Disneyland - Day 1

Day 1 - December 10th

Here we go!  It's about 7:30 a.m. and yes there are a lot of us...and yes Brandon is scared... and yes it is Brandon's 40th birthday today and this is just what he always dreamed of doing in celebration.  I mean what's not to love about managing our 7 kids, 10 and under, at Disneyland?  

Okay so he wasn't that thrilled about it, but it just goes to show what a good Daddy he is.  This ended up being the week that worked for everyone and the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas that was projected to have the fewest lines, so he agreed though this would not have been his first, second, or even third choice of how to spend his day.

Thanks for being such a good sport Honey!

#partyof20

Party of 20!

Troyer

Kaufman

Moss

Buzz Lightyear

Our first stop was Buzz Light Year.  I had downloaded an app called Touring Plans that was suppose to help us navigate around the park and avoid lines, which in theory sounded great.  However, it seemed to have us walking quite a bit which isn't awesome with a big group of kids, and because the park wasn't really that busy we ended up just scrapping the whole thing pretty quickly.  I think it might be worth trying again under different circumstances, but it was evident to me almost immediately that I wasn't going to be able to be looking at my phone and keeping an eye on my kids at the same time, and it wasn't worth stopping to show someone else how to use it.  Keeping a group this size moving and together was definitely a challenge, as was making decisions, but that was no surprise.

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Autopia

 Wyatt

 Sadie

Cooper and Caleb

Daddy and Hazel

Mary Poppins
The kids got their first signatures for their autograph books.

The Matterhorn

Teacups

These are my crazy husbands favorite.  No one spins a tea cup like Uncle Brandon spins a teacup!

Just hearing the music sends me right back to Disneyland.  I love it!!!

Mickey's House

It's A Small World

3:00 and this one is all tuckered out.

Star Wars

At this point we split up for just a bit.  The big 3 headed over to the new Star Wars land with Daddy and Uncle Caleb while Grammy and I took the youngest to get some snacks and find a spot to watch the parade.

The oldest kids LOVE Star Wars and this was definitely a huge hit.

They even got to meet Chewie!!!

The Disney Parade
I'm a big fan of the Disney Parade.  I will never forget how it mesmerized our three oldest on their first trip here 5 years ago and I think they loved it almost as much this time.  However, the best by far is watching it all come to life for the littlest ones.  Disneyland is so magical and experiencing it at Christmas was pretty fun!